Ephesian Church

The Ephesian Church was a Christian congregation in the Anatolian city of Ephesus which was founded by Paul the Apostle in the 1st century AD. Paul stayed in Ephesus for two years, converting many Greek Jews and gentiles to Christianity; John the Apostle was arrested in Ephesus, but he would later return late in his life. Paul wrote the Epistle to the Ephesians in 46 AD; it was also one of the seven churches of Asia mentioned in the Book of Revelation, in which John the Apostle praised it for having labored hard and not fainted and for separating itself from the wicked, although he admonished it for abandoning its first love. After the First Council of Nicaea in 325, it became the seat of an Orthodox metropolis which remained active until 1923.